REFORM OUTDATED MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWS

Putting the brakes on medical marijuana raids is only one small step
of the many that still need to be taken toward a sensible drug policy
after years of backpedaling by President George W. Bush.

CHICAGO - When Charles Lynch asked local officials for permission to
sell an herbal medicine in the central California town of Morro Bay,
they granted it to him - even though the medicine was marijuana.

That's because marijuana recommended by a doctor has been legal in
California since 1996. A dozen other states have passed similar laws.
Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and New Hampshire are among about 10 states
that have been debating similar measures.

So Charlie applied for a business license, joined the Chamber of
Commerce, talked to lawyers and even called the Drug Enforcement
Administration before opening his medical marijuana dispensary with a
grand ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Unfortunately for Charlie, none of this prevented him from being
arrested in March 2007 when federal authorities raided his home and
small business.

That's because the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Gonzalez v. Raich in
2005 that in the issue of medical marijuana federal law trumps the
states.

Today's decision," crowed Bush's drug czar, John Walters, at the time,
"marks the end of medical marijuana as a political issue."

Well, not quite. President Barack Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder
has announced that the Justice Department will stop raiding marijuana
dispensaries in California and other states that allow medical marijuana.

But that doesn't help Charlie, whose sentencing is set for March 23.
Lynch, who tried to conduct his business as openly and legally as
possible under the laws enacted by Californians, is one of the more
poignant examples of nonviolent offenders arrested and jailed by
federal raiders.

Putting the brakes on medical marijuana raids is only one small step
of the many that still need to be taken toward a sensible drug policy
after years of backpedaling by President George W. Bush.

Obama apparently likes to multi-task. Faced with a long list of thorny
issues, he's decided to take them on all at once while his honeymoon
lasts. While he's at it, he needs to modernize federal policy on the
medicinal use of marijuana. Stopping the raids in state's where it's
legal is good for starters. He also needs to lift what has amounted to
a ban on scientific research and push to change federal law that
currently equates marijuana with heroin.

That's right. Since 1971, marijuana has been classified as a "Schedule
I" narcotic, meaning it has no medical value. That's the same category
as heroin. And as if that's not goofy enough, that would suggest
marijuana is more dangerous than crack cocaine, a Schedule II drug
that no one in the sane world describes as more dangerous than pot.

Yet that's the kind of thinking that gave a green light for the DEA to
terrorize growers, providers, caregivers and patients with hundreds of
commando-style raids. At least 90 major raids have been conducted by
DEA agents in California, according to the Marijuana Policy Project,
which advocates legalization of medicinal marijuana.

The Bush administration justified the federal crackdown against the
medicinal use of marijuana as a way to stop some people from abusing
the drug - as if some people didn't abuse every type of drug, legal or
otherwise. In fact, the same rationale was used to justify alcohol
prohibition a century ago. That didn't work out so well either.

Walters, like the drug czars before him, argued that the law must rely
on scientific research, "not popular opinion." Yet 10 years after a
study commissioned by President Bill Clinton's administration found
medical value in smoked marijuana, the Bush experts say that's not
enough.

Days before Obama's inauguration, the DEA denied an application by
Professor Lyle Craker, who has been fighting in and out of court for
eight years to get a license to conduct further DEA-approved research.
Yet his study is the sort that must be done to provide the sort of
data that the Bush administration said was lacking.

Obama recently reversed much of what has been called the Bush
administration's "war against science." He needs to turn around the
war against medicinal marijuana research, too.